hodges



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

P. F. HODGES. Grain Binder- No. 233,151. Patented Oct. 12, 1880.

mire/S3125 Invenfo'r: fiz/L/ ;4W

MPEI'ERS. PHOTO-UTHOGRAPNER. WASHINGTON, D C.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

P. F. HODGES. Grain Binder.

Nu. 233,151. Patented Oct.12,1880.

. minesses Irv-011101:

N-FETERS. PHDTO-LITHOGRAPHEE WASNANGTDN. B O.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PLINY F. HODGES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 HIMSELF AND WILLIAM DEERING, OF SAME PLACE, ONE-HALF TO EACH.

GRAIN-BINDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 233,151, dated October 12, 1880.

Application filed March 25, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PLINY F. Honens, of the city of Chicago, Cook county, State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Grain-Binders, of which the following is a full description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a top or plan view, one side of the frame-work and a portion of the receiver being broken away; Fig. 3, an inside view of the needle-point and devices located therein; Fig. 4, a front elevation of the needle or wire-arm'point; Figs. 5 and 6, details of the devices for operating the bar which operates the twister.

This invention relates to that class of grainbinders in which a reciprocating binding or wire arm carries the wire around the bundle, said arm having the devices for accomplishing the binding located and operating in its point, and has for its object an improved construction and arrangement of the parts for giving the required movements to the binding or wire arm and an improved construction and arrangement of devices for operating the twister; and its nature consists in providing pinions located on the pivot for the rear end of the arm and arranged to engage with racks located on the slotted'supporting-arm and on a sliding bar carried by the binding-arm, and providing the sliding bar with a rack arranged to engage with a pinion and drive the twisting device; and in the several parts and combination of parts hereinafter set forth as new.

1n the drawings, A represents the shank or main portion of the binding or wire arm; A,

the point of the said arm;"B, the sliding block or head; 0, the supporting bar or arm; 0, the slot in the arm 0; D, the crank; E, the shaft; F, the sprocket or driving wheel; G, the supporting-frame H, the sliding rack-bar; I, the cross-bars of an elevator-frame for a harvester; J, the elevator frame; K, the upper elevator-roller; L, the grain receiver or receptacle; L, the slot in L; a, the rack for moving the bar H; b, the pinion for the rack a,- c, the shaft or pivot for the arm A to the block B; d, the pinion for revolving the shaft 0; d, the fiat face or stop on the pinion d; e, the rack for driving the pinion d; f, the crank-pivot for the arm A; g, the guides or supports for the bar H; h, the flange forming a channel in the point A for the bar H; i, the twister-rack on the bar or arm H; j, the twister-pinion; k, the hollow shaft or bearing; 1, the revolving head; m,the sliding cutting and holding plate; a, the interlocking pawls or clutches; o, the slot in the point A for guiding the wire to the twister.

Thebindingapparatus, as shown, is attached to a harvestingmachine, which receives the grain as cut and elevates it over the drive Wheel and deposits it in a receiver of suitable construction, and the parts represented by I, J, K, and L may be of any of the well-known forms of construction of those parts in machines of this class, the receiver being provided with a suitable slot or opening, L, for the passage of the binding-arm.

Only so much of aconlplete machineis shown as is necessary to illustrate the invention. The remainder is to be constructed in any of the well-known and usual forms.

The binding-arm is made of two sections, A being the shank and A the point. The shank A is bent or curved to the proper shape to adapt it to encompass the grain in the receptacle, and is pivoted at f to the outer end of the crank I), which crank is secured at its other end to the end of the shaft E. The shaft E is supported in suitable bearings located on the frame G, and is to be driven by means of the sprocket-wheel F, or in any other suitable manner.

The frame G, as shown, is attached by its vertical portion to the cross-bars I, and its horizontal portion, which supports the shaft E, projects over the receiver, so as to bring the binding-arm in line with the slot L, and is located at the proper distance above the receptacle L to allow the binding-arm to have the vertical movements required of it.

The rear end of the arinAis pivoted by the shaft or arbor c to the block or head B, which block is arranged to slide back and forth on the arm or support 0 as the crank D revolves. The inner end of the arm 0 is rigidly secured to the frame or support G, and the arm is so lo cated as to form a guide for the head or block B, and to keep the rear end of the wirearm in the proper plane for operation. This arm 0 is provided with a slot, 0, extending nearly its entire length, on the inner upper edge of which is a rack, e, with which a wheel or pinion, d, engages as the block or head B approaches the inner end of the arm or support 0, which pinion d is secured to the arbor or shaft 0, and is provided with a flat face, (1, which engages with the upper face of the slot 0 and prevents rotation of the pinion when not engaged with the rack e. ()n the end of c, to which the rear end of A is pivoted, is another pinion, b, which engages with a rack, 11, on the rear end of the bar 11, which bar is curved or bent similarly to A,and is supported in suitable guides or loops g secured to the shank A, so as to be free to be reciprocated by the action of the pinion b and rack a. Theinner end of the bar H terminates in the point A, a suitable guideway or passage therefor being provided between the flange h and the upper plate of the needle-point, as shown in Fig. 3. On this end of the bar H is a rack, i, which engages with a pinion,j, on the shaft of the twister and gives the required rotation to the twister. The pinion j, in the form of twister shown,is secured to a hollow hearing or shaft, k, on the end of which is a circular head, I, which supports a rectangular plate, m, the ends of which are alternately projected beyond the head I, so as to expose a slot, into which the wire is drawn, and where it is severed and caught, the plate m being reciprocated by means of a cam and an intermittent rotary shaft in the bearing 1:, (not shown,) and this shaft and its bearing are made to engage or disengage by means of interlocking pawls or clutches u,- but for a. more particular description of this twister reference is made to an application heretofore filed by me, where it is specifically claimed, shown, and described.

Other forms of twisters having a rotary movement can be operated by the bar H and rack i, the rack engaging with the pinion of the twister.

The grain is delivered into the receptacle L, where it is to be encompassed bythe bindingwire, which wire has its spool suitably located beneath the receptacle, to enable the main wire to enter the slot 0 when the wire-arm descends.

In operation, when the crank l) is at its highest vertical point the wire-arm will be at its highest point of ascent and over the grain in the receptacle, and the head or block B will have passed the point where the rack e and pinion d engage and nearly to the limit of its movement toward the inner end of the arm or support 0, the binding-wire at this time passing from its spool under and back of the grain in the receptacle, its end being held in the wire-arm point. As the crank D is carried down toward the receptacleL the wire-arm will be caused to descend, separating the inflowing grain from the bundle to be bound, and carrying the binding-wire around the bundle, the main wire, as the arm descends, passing into the slot 0, bringing the two strands into position to be caught and twisted together by the twisting mechanism. As the wire-arm descends it will, through its pivotal connection with the head B, cause the head to complete its inward movement and begin its return movement, which return movement, at the proper time and before the crank D has reached its lowest point vertically, will cause the rack e and pinion d to engage, causing the pinion to revolve, and with it the shaft 0 and pinion b, and through the rack a moves the bar H toward and into the point A, which movement of the bar H will cause the rack i to revolve the twister j and operate the twisting mechanism, which movements will continue until the pinion d has passed the rack e, at which time the strands of the binding-wire have been twisted together, the wire severed, and its end caught, leaving the bundle bound and ready to be discharged by the action of the wire-arm as it is carried down and outward by the crank D. As the crank D is carried up and away from the receptacle the wire-arm will be raised and the block or head B carried to its extreme outward movement, and thus returnedtto its first position as the crank reaches its highest vertical position. The return movement of B as the pinion dengages the rack 0 gives areverse movement to the bar H, uncoiling the wire from the twistershank, so as to be ready for the next operation.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The sliding bar H, located in the wirecarrying arm and having racks a and 'i, in combination with the pinions b and d, located on the shaft 0, pinion j, and rack e, for giving the bar H a reciprocating movement and operating the twister, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. A reciprocating wire-carrying arm with a twisting mechanism operated by a pinion, j, located in the point thereof, in combination with the bar H, provided with the racks i and a, the sliding head B, carrying the shaft 0 and pinions I) and d, and the support 0, provided with the rack e, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

PLINY F. HODGES. Witnesses:

0. W. BOND, H. F. BRUNS. 

